2017 December New York City Trip

While Serena has been to NYC several times (it is her favourite city, after all), this is my first time.

Given all the good reviews of Porter airline, we chose to ride Porter from Toronto to New York City. Spoilers: It was a 6-hour delay.

The flight crew from the previous destination got stuck, so they couldn’t get back to Toronto on time. Then you add in winter and snow conditions, almost every flight ended getting pushed back, but ours was … yeah…

We went outside to eat breakfast at the Thompson Diner, then came back, and still had plenty of time…

Anyway, eventually we made it to Newark, took a train into New York, and it was time for dinner!

Shake Shack!

Featured on the SeriousEats podcast, I recognized the fast food joint at the train station, and we had a quick bite there.

The style reminded Serena of the Burger’s Priest back in Toronto. It turned out okay. Not anything super amazing, but not bad. Fries were okay if you like the thicker cuts.

The transit system is a mixed bag. On one hand, it feels faster than TTC. Many more lines to reach your destination. But man… there was a panhandler who told me to “shut the **** up” when I didn’t give him money. Generally dirtier, darker, and sketchier.

For lunch, we went to Empire Steak House, close to our DoubleTree hotel. They had a lunch special. Food was average.

The interior looked fantastic. Not many customers, but clearly quite fancy.

Very ordinary salad.

The cream of broccoli soup was pretty good.

Mediocre pasta with ordinary sauce and bottled Parmesan…..

The steak was better. Mashed potatoes and broccoli were … Swiss Chalet level or lower.

Dessert was pretty nice. Tiramisu here. We didn’t eat the frosting.

Cheesecake was ordinary.

Essentially, it was a very ordinary meal for a regular price. Didn’t really match the decor.

It’s Christmas Eve, and not much is open. We walked the High Line, which used to be a railway, but instead of being torn down, they made a park along the length of it. It’s nicer in the summer when the vegetation is alive, but still quite scenic, and the houses around it have character, from run-down to sci-fi. You can see the Brooklyn skyline in the distance here.

After searching around for a while, we finally found a restaurant that’s open on Christmas Eve.

We ordered an assorted platter. Here’s the sukiyaki as the safe choice.

Beef tartare.

A bitter salad, which was okay.

In general, we had a bunch of “okay” food.

Right across from our hotel, we had this restaurant that only serves 1 dish. There is no choice, just one thing: Trimmed Entrecote Steak “Porte Maillot” with its famous sauce, unlimited French Fries, and Green Salad for $29.95.